On a brilliant winter afternoon, a Utah Railway Savage to IPP coal train crosses the Price River bridge westbound at Castle Gate. Until 1974, the terrain through here was occupied by the city of Castle Gate with homes, businesses, and a big coal tipple. After that, the area was cleared for development and a new coal mine and tipple were constructed to feed an upcoming coal boom. After several years of boom and bust, by 2000 yet another coal mine and tipple were built called the Willow Creek mine. It unfortunately caught fire inside and was shut down permanently only months after opening. Soon the entire conveyor and tipple complex were dismantled and hauled away in pieces. Today the site of old Castle Gate has been reclaimed and returned to the deer and other wildlife. Only the ghosts of miners and the memory of her rich history as a coal mining community and industry survive.
